It was high time to fight fire, rather it was too late.


CHAPTER XXIII. "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY."

When the door was finally closed upon the brothers and their faithful
thrall, Alfred did not give way to despair. The words of Ragnar, "If
there be a God, let Him deliver you," had sunk deeply into his heart,
and had produced precisely the opposite effect to that which his cousin
had intended; it seemed as if his cause were thus committed to the great
Being in Whose Hand was the disposal of all things; as if His Honour
were at stake, Whom the murderer had so impiously defied.

"'If there be a God, let Him deliver you,'" repeated Alfred, and it
seemed to him as if a Voice replied, "Is My Arm shortened, that It
cannot save?"

But how salvation was to come, and even in what mode danger was to be
expected, was unknown to them; nay, was even unguessed. They heard the
bustle below, which followed Ragnar's announcement of his intended
departure from Aescendune. They heard the mustering of the horses--and
at last the conviction forced itself upon them that the foe were about
to evacuate the hall. But in that case, how would he inflict his
sentence upon his victims?

The dread truth, the suspicion of his real intention, crept upon the
minds of both Alfred and Oswy. Elfric yet lay insensible, or seemingly
so, upon the bed, lost to all perception of his danger. Alfred sat at
the head of the bed, looking with brotherly love at the prostrate form
of him for whom he was giving his life; but feeling secretly grateful